Competition for the systematization of the Central Army House Square in Bucharest

text: Irina Oana CĂLINESCU

In an article written by conf. arh. G. Petrașcu in the magazine Arhitectura nr. 4 of 1955, "NOTES IN CONNECTION WITH THE COMPETITION FOR THE DESIGN OF THE CENTRAL ARMY HOUSE PIEȚĂĂĂIA CASEI CENTRALE A'ARMATEI DIN BUCUREȘTI", we learn that it was organized by the Union of Architects of the RPR and the People's Council of Bucharest, in the autumn of 1954 and had 20 projects juried.
The theme of the competition was the architectural planning of the space located at the intersection of Calea Victoriei and Bdul 6 Martie (today's Regina Elisabeta). The space to be studied extended towards the streets Academiei, Doamna, Matei Millo, with the main priority being the highlighting of the Central Army House and its terraces.
It is not our purpose to judge whether it was a successful competition, but from the above-mentioned article we suspect that it was a controversial one, the proposed solutions being due to the existing conditions, but also to the project theme itself. The author's opinion on the projects presented was supported by a joke: "We would say that this time it seems as if the urban planners are not enough architects and the architects not enough urban planners". We are not commenting on the solutions presented per se, but we cannot fail to note, with some admiration, the way they are written and the very elaborate graphic layout of each of the pieces.
The plans are drawn in ink or pencil, the fruit of a huge amount of work carried out with passion, patience and painstaking care. Even though the architects did not have computers and specialized software at their disposal, the illustration of each contestant's ideas stands out as a beautiful example of presentation.
For those who are interested, in the Archives of the Union of Architects - the collection of negatives on glass plates - there are a few images recorded by the Union's photographer, Mr. Corvin Stasek, in 1961; they belong to a larger series of reproductions of the plans of the architectural competition for the systematization of the Central Army House Square, of which, in the year of the inventory, only 10 plates were still in the archives.
Of all the drawings/plans reproduced in the article in the magazine Arhitectura, only a few have survived in the archive, there are 10 registered landmarks (inventory no. 1242-1251), they are 9 x 12 cm, emulsion and AGFA support, black and white color.
They were not inventoried until 1961, when we assume that a reorganization of the Union of Architects' photo-documentary archive began.

SUMMARY OF THE MAGAZINE ARHITECTURA, NR.5-6/ 2019
COMPETITION